Leveling the March Madness playing field
Bianchi: The lack of big crowds hurts the major programs, while small schools are used to playing games in empty arenas.
Welcome, big boys, to the home-court advantage of the little guys.
The home-court advantage known in some circles as Cavernously Empty Field House and in other circles as Leveling The Playing Field Arena.
You want to know why college basketball has been thrust into a state of disarray during this COVID-cursed season?
You want to know why there are so many mid-majors and double-digit seeds pulling major upsets in the NCAA Tournament?
You want to know why storied programs like Duke and Kentucky didn’t even make the tournament?
It’s because the big boys don’t have the inherent advantages that they normally have during a college basketball season, whereas the little guys are built to play in the antiseptic environment of this pandemic-plagued season.
If you really want to know the truth, this is the most fair and equitable March Madness in the history of the event. Everybody is playing in the same bubble, in the same city, inside the same mostly empty buildings in Indianapolis.
There’s a reason the NCAA Tournament’s 11 upsets as of Sunday night already had broken the record for most upsets in the first two rounds — and that was with eight more second-round games still to be played Monday.
There’s a reason a record four seeds of No. 13 or higher
advanced in the first round of the tournament.
There’s a reason No. 15 seed Oral Roberts is in the Sweet 16 after upsetting No. 2 seed Ohio State and No. 7 Florida. There’s a reason Sister Jean’s Loyola Chicago Ramblers advanced to the Sweet 16 by taking down their No. 1 seeded cross-state rival — the University of Illinois. And there’s a reason tiny Abilene Christian beat its big, bad, in-state brothers — the Texas Longhorns.
Because these tiny programs all are used to playing games in nearempty arenas. In 2019, the full season before the pandemic, Oral Roberts averaged 2,200 fans per game, Abilene Christian 1,200, and Loyola Chicago 3,700. Teams like these don’t need rowdy, raucous arenas filled with fired-up fans to get juiced up because they are capable of motivating themselves.
I firmly believe that the reason Duke and Kentucky were so bad this year and combined didn’t make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1976 is because, for the first time in history, they didn’t have their monumental homecourt advantages this season.
Don’t kid yourself, when opponents walk into Cameron Indoor or Rupp Arena, they are intimidated by the frenzied, manic aura in those arenas. Former FSU and Georgia coach Hugh Durham used to say you could tangibly feel the “Blue Mist” raining down upon you when you played a game against Kentucky.
Likewise, programs such as Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina feed off the energy and atmosphere in their sold-out buildings. Kentucky was 5-6 at home this season compared to 17-1 a year ago. Duke was 8-5 at home this season compared to 15-2 a year ago.
And it’s not just that the lack of fans affects the teams playing in the games; it also affects the officials calling the games. It’s certainly no secret that college basketball refs are influenced by rabid fan bases and sellout crowds.
In fact, the Samford University Center for Sports Analytics just completed a study in which it analyzed the 19,285 Division I men’s basketball games over the last four seasons and showed that the average number of fouls called on the visiting team during the 2020-21 season was significantly lower than the number of fouls called on the visiting team during the previous three seasons.
Specifically, the number of fouls called on the visiting team declined by 4.8% overall across all NCAA Division I home games played during the 202021 regular season (3,716 games). Meanwhile, the average number of fouls called on the home team during the 2020-21 season (16.80) was not statistically different from the previous three seasons (16.86).
“This year’s college basketball season provided sports researchers with an unprecedented opportunity to better understand the impact fans actually have at sporting events,” said Darin White, executive director for the Samford University Center for Sports Analytics. “Our findings suggest that fans have far more influence than previously believed and have the ability to impact the game in numerous positive ways for the home team.”
Don’t think this doesn’t also translate to the NCAA Tournament, where the storied programs and the high seeds traditionally play in regionals close to their campuses in arenas mostly filled with their own fans. This year’s tournament is different, of course. There are no huge crowds to motivate the big boys, intimidate the little guys or to influence the officiating.
Cavernously Empty Field House may not have much atmosphere, but it sure has created excitement and drama.
Cinderella, it seems, is transforming into Cruella right before our very eyes.